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I know a guy who...

Last weekend I headed out to a field I hadn't visited in 2 years (had a bad experience the last time). As I'm signing in, I see a number of OLD Fred Schultz pictures on the wall. As I'm marveling at the time warp, I spot Tim Schloss, Mr. Tiger Stripe, working behind the pro-shop counter. I had thought Tim had dropped out of the industry years ago to race power boats or some-such. Turns out he ha done that, then bought a bar, and now owns this field. The die-hards jut can't leave the sport.

Naturally, we got to talking about the old days. He says he has talked to Fred as recently as a fe weeks ago. He apparently had a tractor accident some time ago, and was laid up for a while, but is doing well now. Tim offered me Fred cell number. I declined, but at least I know how to get word to him if need be.

Last weekend I headed out to a field I hadn't visited in 2 years (had a bad experience the last time). As I'm signing in, I see a number of OLD Fred Schultz pictures on the wall. As I'm marveling at the time warp, I spot Tim Schloss, Mr. Tiger Stripe, working behind the pro-shop counter. I had thought Tim had dropped out of the industry years ago to race power boats or some-such. Turns out he ha done that, then bought a bar, and now owns this field. The die-hards jut can't leave the sport.

Naturally, we got to talking about the old days. He says he has talked to Fred as recently as a fe weeks ago. He apparently had a tractor accident some time ago, and was laid up for a while, but is doing well now. Tim offered me Fred cell number. I declined, but at least I know how to get word to him if need be.

Shives

Well, that isn't going to help us track him down. But, seriously, great to know he is still around. Got a name for the field that Schloss owns or a phone number? Last time I saw Tim was a good 10 years ago at a Big Game in Missouri. In fact, Fred was there and Tom Kaye. Tim was a limited sponsor for the S.O.B.s for a couple years. Tiger Stripes was a big sponsor of Swarm for a few years, too, I believe.

Sorry about being a bit vague there guys. I didn't want the man swamped if he is staying out for a reason. I'll forward the info to Tim and let him give it to Fred. If he wants to be mobbed by his adoring fans, I'll let it be on his terms.

Tim has taken over Bushwackers (info@bushwackerspaintball.net) here in St. Louis. Based on the other weekend, he has certainly brought it back from where it was when I played there a couple of years ago.

He had enough pull to get a paintball game into Disney World. I don't mean out behind the fence, I mean in MAIN STREET USA where they filmed us shooting each other. The ends of the streets were netted off and the Disney public watched it go down. If you go there today you might still see where we blew the corners off the foam buildings. This whole thing was setup for a paintball video, one of the first professionally done.

Who Was Fred Schultz? Remembering Great Players from the Past

Originally Posted by shives007

Biff,

Curtesy of "Mr. Tiger Stripe", I have a slightly different address for Freddie. Are you trying to call him? I think Tim talks to him occasionally.

Shives

Hey Shives,

I was just out in that area - Manhattan Beach, L.A., San Clemente, San Diego and Coronado, after Mexico, Tucson and Phoenix. Got back Tuesday after 6 weeks of partying with a lot of old friends in a lot of places. I wish Tim would let the rest of the world know something about Fred. I stopped trying to find him, several years ago. The address I have was good back then. I suppose if I had tried to mail something and he had moved less than a year prior, I might have got a forwarding address from the post office.

Freddy knew how to take care of you. The tv incident that TK was talking about was July 4th weekend of 1994 and Fred's partner used to work with Disney. They flew about 20 of us out there and put us all up in private cabins on the lake at the Marriott. We had back stage passes to everywhere on the Disney lot and great seats for the fireworks that evening.

Then they closed New York Street to public access, moved a bunch of buses and cars from old movies out there. The teams wore bright colored uniforns and the judges wore the first black & white stripes in paintball. Tom's team played against Fred's team and some of us judged. ESPN 2 had the highest ratings for a weekend and suddenly paintball was on the map. There was so much potential for the game to become a sport back then.

But, the big fish in paintball wanted to stay big and kept paintball isolated and profitable for themselves. And today, the players still pay to play and, by design, big outside sponsors like Bud, Coke or the airlines, etc., get only minimal representation.

Greed killed this sport from ever reaching it's potential and so, by the late 90's you saw most of the old guard hang up their markers and migrate away, while the leaches and parasites stayed in the sport to suck the players dry. Tom sold AGD, Freddy disappeared from the face of the planet, Dave sold ViewLoader, Rose left Unique, Marty got squeezed out of Scott, Vents is gone because they put Scott and JT to shame, Budd walked away from WORR Games Products. Of course, there are good people still in it, today, like Tim, Glen Palmer, Rick at Morgan Awards, the guys at Paintball Mania Supplies, Dale Hilton, Dennis Ashley and others. I think Joe West may still be at J&J. But, paintball is over-run with users and cheaters who never saw the potential or who were afraid to take it to the next level. A selfish generation of takers, took over and everyone loses. If tv had taken off and spectators had been encouraged to come in, the big boys would have followed with money for everyone to advance and profit.

Ahh, but once again, I digress. Give me an email address and I will send you what I got. I am still at GTOUSPL@aol.com

The pictures Terry sent me showed water everywhere. Tanks for SCUBA not for paintball. The weather has been pretty nice, when it isn't raining. Not too hot to play yet. Just wish I could find time to play.

Sorry for my ignorance on this subject even though i started playing in 1996, but did Fred Schultz give a reason why he left? or did he just stop attending paintball events and go out that way? It just amazes me that someone who was such a part of the sport disappeared from the scene.

honestly the only Company i have faith in anymore (aside from AGD) is Tippmann. If anything happens to them as a company...im out.

I used to support WGP but they have proven over and over again that they are nothing more then just a name these days, with no customer service and defective crap products.

I think Fred got hurt (not paintball related) and it gave him time to step back. I hate to speak for him, but that is what I see. I was loosely in w/ industry folks for a while. Having a kid has given me a bit of distance that I didn't have. I play for fun. Nothing more now. I do hope things come around in a few years before my son gets involved. At least there is a good group of locals (Total Grief rules!!)

I think Fred got hurt (not paintball related) and it gave him time to step back. I hate to speak for him, but that is what I see. I was loosely in w/ industry folks for a while. Having a kid has given me a bit of distance that I didn't have. I play for fun. Nothing more now. I do hope things come around in a few years before my son gets involved. At least there is a good group of locals (Total Grief rules!!)

Shives

Total Grief are some good eggs. Only had one real run in with them playing on Paintball Daves Bezerkers back in the day. All nice folks. We did a big game in St Louis and made our paint ball film debut throwing Fred Schulz in the pond. Ahh the memories!

Who Was Fred Schultz? Remembering Great Players from the Past

Originally Posted by kurtisqpublic

Total Grief are some good eggs. Only had one real run in with them playing on Paintball Daves Bezerkers back in the day. All nice folks. We did a big game in St Louis and made our paint ball film debut throwing Fred Schulz in the pond. Ahh the memories!

That was a great day. Fred captained our team and we set up a great take down. Chip Kuhrt took his guys low and I took my guys over all the hills. When Chip heard us engage he would turn in and come up on their flank. We did 3 hills and were exhausted, so we waited. I had to control my guys from shooting and we laid very quietly - with our sights on the next hill. Along came the other team and we waited until they were standing all along the ridge like ducks. I told this one 10 year old kid that they guy in black was Dave Youngblood and I told the kid he would take the first shot on my signal. When their hill was like ants, I yelled out and the kid lit up Youngblood like a Christmas tree. We cleaned off that hill and Chips guys came up from the flank and got all the straglers. But Marty Busch from Ironmen had snuck down into the valley and he cleared a few of us off our hill, before 50 guys overwhelmed him.

The first award to get handed out was a brand new Automag to the kid that shot Youngblood. I have never seen a kid with a bigger smile. And then we all tossed Fred in the pond. lolol That was a fun weekend.

Pretty positive that it was owned by Tim Schloss back then. My mini-cocker was being less than "healthy" that weekend but it was still fun! That weekend was also where my affinity for the phantom pump began.

Where is Fred Schultz?

Great video, DamienTC!!! That was the very first time Paintball was ever televised. Fred paid for everyone - both teams and the judges. And when I say paid, I mean for everything. We were all flown in from every part of the country to Orlando. We were all given private cabins on the lake at the Marriott. We had back stage passes to anywhere we wanted to go at Disney World. It was the 4th of July weekend in 1994 and we had front row seats to the fireworks show. Our meals were covered. Our transportation around Orlando was covered. We even had production assistants (PAs) to get us whatever we needed. And we got to perform on New York Street in Disney World on ESPN2.

The host, David Sparks was kind of a "look at me, but don't mess my hair" ham, but a nice enough guy. The actual video was closer to 45 minutes, not including commercials from the sponsors. There were 3 games played. The Corporate All Stars won the second game and then there was a playoff tie-breaker final which Fred's team won.

The refs, among others, included Ed Lapanus #2 from Wild Geese of New England, Jerry Braun #1 from Paintball Sports, Chip Kuhrt from Swarm, and myself #3 from the S.O.B.s with the light blue AGD hat and yellow Vents.

We were there for 5 days, as I recall and it was an attempt to show what a huge potential paintball had.

FYI: This was the direction that myself and Steve Davidson wanted to see the sport head when we created the GTO and later the USPL. The hope was to see large corporate sponsors paying for everything, bleachers filled with spectators and a strong television presence, in order to make the sport affordable to the players. We developed a couple of patents to make that happen. But, we could not overcome the self interests of those who wanted to control the game for their own personal profit. Even our game format for TV was infringed upon. The X-Ball you see today, is actually a watered down version of the patented USPL format that was developed specifically around TV and debuted on Adrenaline TV in the fall of 2000 at Paintfest 2000. What happened to ViewLoader, Vents and others signaled things to come. And a lot of good people got out of paintball because they were tired of the politics. Today we see a once vital NPPL, filing for bankruptcy. I believe that had the industry been more focused on the overall future of the sport and the players, rather than their own bottom line, this sport would be thriving, in spite of this economy.